Cyberchase: Digital Catastrophe!
by Alisi Thorndyke
Summary: Sequel to End Game. King Adam is back and is bringing the cyber fight to the real world, where earth is turned into the ultimate digital battle ground! Matt/Inez and Jackie/Slider pairings. Please R&R! DISCONTINUED PERMANENTLY!
1. Peace at last?

Cyberchase: Digital Catastrophe!

Starter A/N: Hey everyone. Alisi Thorndyke here and welcome to the sequel to Cyberchase: End Game! The prerequisite for this fic is Cyberchase End Game and that fic must be read before you read this fic. If you read End Game, then you're good. The couples in this fic are the same: Jackie/Slider and Matt/Inez. That's pretty much it. If nothing else, on to the legal stuff and then the fic.

Disclaimer: As I've stated before, I don't own Cyberchase. Thirteen Corp does. Any questions? If so, I got some too lol.

Summary: Sequel to End Game. King Adam is back and is bringing the cyber fight to the real world, where earth is turned into the ultimate digital battle ground! Will the cybersquad be able to defeat him on their territory or will the king reign in the real world?

Chapter 1: Peace at last?

Digit or Digital? Which is it? Both pronunciations have the root word 'Digit' in them, but are just spelled differently. What does the word 'Digit' or 'Digital' really mean? Is it referring to a number in the number line or to the data streams that are consistently flowing through the internet, telephone lines and cyberspace? Or maybe the words can be referring to Motherboard's helpful assistant, Digit LeBoid. Just what is meant by those words? If one had to guess what the words Digit and/or Digital meant, they would most likely refer back to the cybersquad, Hacker, and Digit's most recent adventure in Adam's 'Digital' world: Digital Doom!

Even though trapping the kids in a video game world was originally Hacker's plan, the cybersquad along with Digit and Hacker can say they definitely got the full 'Digital' experience, but one arising event unbenoticed to them will soon give them the entire definition of the phrase: Going Digital.

With the battle of Adam behind them and with the celebration being recently enjoyed at the arcade, the cybersquad have left the arcade and have made tracks to Inez's place were the 4 are currently watching movies. Matt and Inez are hugged up together and Jackie is laying her head on Slider's shoulder as they watch the movie: Lawnmower Man. The scene where Dr. Angelo is persuading Jobe to participate in his virtual reality experiments without telling him what they entail is now playing.

"You know he is just going to make a spectacle out of him." Jackie speaks. "All experimenters do that to people who they think aren't smart."

"That poor guy." Slider says, now pulling Jackie closer to him.

"If I were him, I would say no in an instant." Matt adds in.

Continuing to watch the movie, they now witness Jobe agreeing to participate in the experiment.

"I hope he knows what he's doing." Inez says, gripping Matt's shirt tighter. "That virtual reality experiment could be dangerous."

"Ok, this movie is freaking me out already." Jackie says as she grips Slider's shirt. "Big time."

"I'm with you Jackie." Inez agrees.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think the movie's cool." Matt says. "Virtual reality seems fun."

Now looking to the coffee table in front of them, Inez notices that the popcorn bowl is empty.

"Oh look, we're out of popcorn." Inez quickly speaks up. "I'll go make some more. I could use a hand, Jackie, if you don't mind?"

"Sure Inez." Jackie agrees.

Both girls now detach from their guys with Inez grabbing the popcorn bowl. With the bowl, both girls head to the kitchen.

"I don't know about our girlfriends, but I think virtual reality is really cool." Slider says, now turning to Matt. "I'd like to be able to do things that I normally wouldn't in the real world."

"Here, here." Matt agrees as he high fives Slider. "Virtual reality rocks! You see how much that guy is enjoying it."

The guys now turn back to the movie and notices Jobe enter the computer mainframe.

"Now that is awesome." Slider praises. "I wish I could do that."

"Me too, but I wouldn't use my new found power for revenge." Matt replies.

"I wonder why the girls think this movie is strange." Slider wonders. "Jackie and Inez seem really freaked out by it."

"I have no idea." Matt replies with a shrug. "But if it's one thing that I've known about Jackie for a while and that is she likes romance movies. Now Inez, however, I'm not sure about why she finds this movie weird. She usually loves things like this. If it's a movie about nanotechnology or technology in general, she wants to see it."

"Yep, that sounds like Inez alright." Slider nods in agreement.

"Hey, I know what happened." Matt begins. "Your girlfriend has infected my girlfriend with the mushy romance movie bug."

"If that's the case, I guess we'll have to come up with an anti-dote." Slider lightly laughs. "We wouldn't want two Jackie's walking around now do we?"

Both guys laugh at the joke as they turn back to the movie. In the kitchen, Jackie and Inez are waiting for the one bag of popcorn to come out of the microwave so the other can put in.

"Ok Inez, who picked that movie?" Jackie inquires.

"Matt and of course, Slider agreed with him." Inez simply answers. "He said the description of the movie made the movie sound 'cool' so he went with it."

"I see." Jackie says. "You know, Inez, you surprised me tonight. I thought you loved movies like that. I know I don't, but you do. Why is this one different?"

"I don't know really." Inez replies. "It's just something about virtual reality that freaks me out."

"But what about the virtual reality experiment that Dr. Marbles asked you to be a part of some months back?" Jackie asks, the timer on the microwave now sounding.

"Well that was different." Inez replies removing the popcorn bag from the appliance and emptying it into the bowl. "Virtual reality simulations are different to me and I knew what was going on before I agreed to it unlike the guy in the movie. Plus, Dr. Marbles set up a simulation that I'd enjoy, which I did."

Jackie now turns to the guys and notices they are talking among each other.

"I wish we could have picked another movie to watch, but if the guys like it then I guess we can enjoy it with them." Jackie says with a sigh. "Even if we don't like it ourselves."

"Well, being the good girlfriends we are, that's what we do." Inez replies as she places the second popcorn bag in the microwave. "After all, it was their turn to pick the movie."

"Which means next time, it's our turn to pick the movie." Jackie says, a smile forming. "And I know exactly what that movie is going to be."

"Another romance movie?" Inez asks.

"Yep." Jackie answers. "I know of a good one that Matt and Slider will both enjoy as well as us."

"I can't wait." Inez smiles.

The second bag of popcorn is now finished as Inez removes the bag. Pouring the contents into the bowl, both girls make their way back to living room, taking a seat on the couch next to their guys.

"So, what did we miss?" Jackie asks as Slider puts his arm around her.

"Well, I don't know if you missed anything in the movie, but I know I missed you." Slider replies sweetly.

Smiling at Slider, Jackie gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"So Matt, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Inez asks, snuggling up next to Matt.

"Not a thing Nezzie, not a thing." Matt replies.

"You know, I've been wondering." Slider begins. "Now that Adam has been defeated, I wonder if Hacker is going to reformat that game of his, you know, to keep it from being hacked into again."

"That's very interesting Slider." Matt says, keeping his attention on the movie. "I wonder that too."

Northern Frontier

In the wreaker's garage, Hacker is sitting at the main computer as he begins thinking back on being inside of his own video game and joining up with Matt, Digit, and Slider on their quest to put a stop to Adam. The current file he was working on before he went into think mode has become an afterthought.

Flashback

"_Hello kiddies." Hacker greets the guys. "Looks like we're going to be teammates."_

"_Hacker?!" Matt and Slider ask in unison and disbelief._

"_In the circuitry." Hacker replies in his usual condescending tone. _

"_No way Hacker!" Slider immediately protests. "There is no way we are going to team up with you! It's all because of YOU we are in this game!"_

"_You said it Slider!" Matt agrees. "There is no way we are going to let you be on our team! The minute we turn our backs to you, you're going to try to do away with us!"_

"_Our girlfriends are prisoners of King Adam and it's all because of you!" Slider continues. "Bottom line is, we are not teaming up with you! You've been trying to do us in for the longest! If we were to team up with you, that'll give you the advantage to knock us off any given time!"_

"_You might try to make us lose this game on purpose!" Matt continues as well. "Remember, if we make one false move, its game over forever?! Me and Slider will handle things, get to level 12 and save our girlfriends by ourselves! You're on your own!"_

_Having said their peace to Hacker, Matt and Slider begins walking away. _

End Of Flashback

Shaking his head, the thought now clears itself from Hacker's memory. With the thought gone, the cyborg goes back to working on his file.

"I don't know what made me think about that." Hacker says to himself. "That should be the last thing on my mind at a time like this."

Continuing to work on the file, another memory from the past now comes to him.

Flashback

_At the sound of Jackie's voice, the guys have turned around to see their girlfriend's standing before them. While the guys are awe struck, Hacker isn't really convinced that the girls are really back in the game. _

"_This is one of Adam's tricks!" Hacker speaks up. "I'm not convinced you two are really seeing them!"_

"_It can't be a trick." Slider denies, keeping his eyes locked on Jackie. "My Jackie is back and I couldn't be happier."_

"_I'm with you Slider." Matt agrees. "My warrior princess has returned."_

"_You guys might want to really think about this." Hacker tries reasoning with the two. "I know Adam and he wouldn't just let the girls go without having some type of strings attached."_

_Not hearing what Hacker has said, the guys begin running for their girlfriends with open arms. Now reaching them, the girls disappear with the guys closing their arms, only to wrap them around themselves and hit the icy floor. _

"_I told you two it was Adam's trick." Hacker sighs. "It's just like earth kids to not listen to reason."_

_Matt and Slider now get to their feet and begin looking around for their loves._

"_Where's Inez?" Matt asks in confusion. "She was just here."_

"_The same place as Jackie, still with Adam." Slider replies with a sigh. "Hacker was right, it was all a trick and the girls were mere holograms. Adam knew just what to do to get our attention."_

"_I want my Inez." Matt lightly whines._

"_If you want her, you'll have to get past me first." Adam's voice rings out. _

_Hacker, Matt, and Slider look ahead of them to see Adam in hologram form. Seeing him makes Hacker's temper rapidly rise._

"_It was so amusing yet easy to make you two think your precious girlfriends were here." Adam says in a playful tone. "Are you gullible or what?"_

"_What's the matter Adam? Too scare to face us in person?" Hacker challenges. "Why don't you stop hiding and come out and face us!"_

"_So we meet again Hacker." Adam greets in a condescending tone. "It's good to know that the Northern Frontier still continues housing things no one wants. It's no wonder Motherboard banished you there." _

"_Where are our girlfriends Adam?!" Slider demands an answer._

"_They are still with me of course." Adam answers calmly. "And speaking of your girlfriends, I'm afraid the rules have changed concerning their getting out of this game. Instead of reaching level 12 and facing me to earn their freedom, I've decided to keep them, especially Jackie and here are the highlights. I have chosen Jackie as my video game mistress while Inez will remain my game prisoner forever. I have chosen Jackie because something about her just says future ruler and not to mention how beautiful she will look when she is crowned as my mistress. As we speak, neither girl has any idea what is in store for them, but they will find out soon enough."_

"_Stay away from Jackie!" Slider shouts, his anger bursting forward. "If you touch her, you will be buried in this game! That's a promise!"_

"_That's easier said than done." Adam replies. "Jackie and I have so much in common, which is why I am so drawn to her. After all, we're both future rulers so I guess that might be why. Well, I must be going, wouldn't want to keep my mistress waiting. See you on level 12, that is, if you can make it that far."_

_With a grin, Adam's hologram now disappears with three large icicles breaking loose from the ceiling above the guys. Hacker spots the icicles coming down towards the guys at a rapid rate. Quickly lunging towards them, he knocks them out of the way just in time as the icicles now stab the ground where the guys were standing. _

"_Another minute and you two would have been goners." Hacker says as the three now get to their feet. _

End Of Flashback

Hacker shakes his head once more, now clearing that memory out of his head. Just thinking about how he helped the kids and Digit out is upsetting him. Why are these memories coming back to him now? What happened in the game is a thing of the past now and that's exactly how it is going to stay! In the past!

"I don't care anything about those earth brats!" Hacker fumes. "They were in the way of what was really important and since it was my game, only I knew how to make it out! Those annoying earth brats!"

Halting what he is working on currently, Hacker's eyes now lands on the incoming mail basket where the file folder 'Take over Cyberspace plans' is sitting. Continuing to eye the folder, Hacker now reaches out to grab it, but immediately withdraws his hand. Having withdrawn from grabbing it, Hacker keeps his eyes on the file.

"Why can't I bring myself to touch that folder?" Hacker asks himself, not understanding his sudden change of mind.

"Because you know what would happen if you did." A voice from Hacker's right speaks to him.

Hearing the voice, Hacker now looks to his right and spots a smaller version of himself dressed as an angel standing on his shoulder. Seeing the angel nearly gives the cyborg a heart attack.

"Who…who are you?" Hacker asks, his voice shaky.

"Why I'm your conscience of course." Angel Hacker speaks. "And I know why you don't want to touch that folder. You just can't go through with it because of what took place in the game, you and the cybersquad joining forces to stop Adam. You were able to put aside your differences with them to focus on what was really important and that was stopping the bad guy and getting out of the game. As much as you don't want to admit it, you do have a soft spot for those kids."

"Oh don't make me sick!" A voice from Hacker's left now speaks.

Turning to his left, Hacker spots a smaller version of himself dressed as a devil standing on his left shoulder.

"I'm assuming you're also my conscience?" Hacker questions to the devil.

"Of course and I'm here to tell you, grab that folder!" Devil Hacker demands. "Just because you helped out those earth brats doesn't mean you can't still go through with your plan of taking over cyberspace. Have you forgotten what's really important? Do you no longer have a spine?"

"Stop trying to corrupt him!" Angel Hacker argues with Devil hacker. "He can't go through with his plans. He has a soft spot for those kids and he needs to help them out more often. Don't listen to him Hacker! He's up to no good!"

"Of course I'm up to no good! I am dressed like this for a reason!" Devil Hacker argues back. "Now you listen to me Hacker, grab that folder, perfect your plans and become the next ruler of cyberspace! It's your destiny!"

"Your destiny is to become the good guy and help out those kids!" Angel Hacker argues, his voice rising. "It's never too late to turn things around Hacker. Listen to me, please!"

"Don't listen to him, listen to me!" Devil Hacker shouts.

"Listen to me!" Angel Hacker fights.

"No me!" Devil Hacker yells.

"NO, ME!" Angel Hacker shouts to the top of his lungs.

"Silence both of you!" Hacker fumes, having had enough of the arguing. "How about this? Why don't the two of you scram while I go back to work on my current file?"

Dusting off his shoulders, both forms of his conscience now disappear as Hacker goes back to work. Not feeling focused on his current assignment any longer and putting his pencil down, Hacker turns back to his mail basket, to the file folder and sighs. Without a second thought, Hacker grabs the folder and looks it over. Giving the folder one more glance over, Hacker sticks it under a pile of books sitting on his desk, immediately making it an afterthought.

With that out of the way, Hacker now picks up his pencil as he goes back to work on his current file.

Control Central

Having had success with the first robot proto-type, Dr. Marbles has created a dozen robot proto-types for his and Motherboard's project. He is currently working on robot 12 with Motherboard watching on.

"Just one more." Dr. Marbles speaks, now tightening the lug nut on the left leg of robot number 12.

With that last round of the wrench, the lug nut is now tight in place.

"Ok, phase one of the project is complete." Dr. Marbles says, now getting to his feet. "Now on to phase two."

"You did a real good job Dr." Motherboard praises.

"Thank you Motherboard." Dr. Marbles replies. "I couldn't have done it with you."

Digit and Widget now enters the equipment room and immediately notices the robots.

"Whoa, look at all those robots!" Widget speaks up. "Is cyberspace under attack?"

"Yeah doc, what's with the robot clones?" Digit asks. "Is Adam back? I knew it! Bad guys never really are defeated at the end of video games!"

"No, no, Adam isn't back and Cyberspace is not in trouble." Dr. Marbles replies, lightly laughing at both cybird's questions. "These robots are a part of me and Motherboard's project: Artificial Digital Intelligence. We are testing data along with these robots to see if data can be used in emergency situations were other modes of emergency may not be available in time or are too slow to respond in time."

"Oh I see." Digit speaks, sighing in relief. "So how's that working out so far doc?"

"So far so good Digit." Dr. Marbles replies. "If all goes well, one of these A.D.I robots will be on every cybersite in all of cyberspace. Of course there are more than 12 cybersites, but you know what I mean."

"Where exactly did you guys come up with the idea for the project doc?" Widget inquires.

"King Adam." Dr. Marbles simply answers. "I know that he was the bad guy, but without him, this idea wouldn't have been possible, let alone Motherboard and I wouldn't have had the inspiration for it. So we do have to give him some thanks."

"Who's King Adam?" Widget asks, now turning to Digit.

"It's a long story little buddy, but at least it's interesting." Digit replies to his smaller half. "Great work on the project doc and Motherboard. I'm going to go tell Widget the story of King Adam."

"Yay, I can't wait to hear it Digit!" Widget says with excitement.

"Ok, it all started in the video game Hacker created." Digit begins as he and Widget begin making their way out of the equipment room.

With that, Dr. Marbles begins looking over the rest of the robots.

Network Cyberspace

In the data circuits of cyberspace, a blue data stream is flowing through a network main frame as an evil laugh begins echoing through the main frame…..

* * *

So far so good with your and Motherboard's plan doc, but what network main frame is that blue data stream in and where did that laugh come from? Is Adam back to cause havoc once more in cyberspace? And will Matt and Slider like the romance movie that Jackie picks for them to watch? These questions answered and more in the next chapter of Digital Catastrophe! Next chapter: The kids are called in to view Dr. Marbles and Motherboard's project and a startling discovery is made!

**Review Please and Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! :)**


	2. Power Surging

Chapter 2: Power Surging

'Life in Cyberspace and earth appears to be back to normal after King Adam's reign, but just how long will it remain peaceful?'

Northern Frontier

On the northern frontier, Buzz and Delete are outside cleaning the wreaker while Hacker is in his laboratory continuing to work on his file. Delete is cleaning the top half of the wreaker and Buzz cleaning the half bottom of the wreaker. This is part one of their punishment for tearing apart the lab, but you'd think after they saved Hacker's life, he'd be more grateful to them.

"This is totally unfair!" Delete begins. "You'd think the boss would be more grateful to us after we saved his life from that King Adam guy!"

"You'd think." Buzz agrees as he squeezes his sponge. "Sure we made a mess in his lab, but it was for a good cause."

"Tell me about it." Delete continues as he dips his squeegee into his pail full of cleaning solution. "We had to find that manual or else the boss would still be in that game right now along with the kids. Sometimes I feel that the boss doesn't appreciate us enough."

"The measure we took was very necessary if you ask me and I feel the same way." Buzz says. "We bust our butts for him and he just overlooks it all. He always calls us dunce buckets and stupid, but never anything that's good. We never hear 'good job boys' or 'I really appreciate what you've done guys'. No, we never hear that, he always scolds us."

"Sometimes I wonder why we even bother to work for him." Delete continues as he cleans the wreaker's windshield. "We do something nice for him that saves his life, but he never appreciates it. Never!"

"I have to admit, helping out Digit and the doc was pretty good." Buzz says. "At least they truly appreciated our efforts."

"Yea, they did." Delete agrees. "Sometimes I wonder if joining up with them is what we should do. After all, if we continue working for Hacker, we'll just keep getting the exact same treatment."

Before Buzz can reply to Delete, Hacker's voice can be heard calling out to them. Turning to the doorway of the garage, both robots spot Hacker waving to them.

"Buzz! Delete!" Hacker calls. "Get in here! I have another job for you! Well several jobs actually!"

"Right away boss." Buzz replies with a sigh.

Both robots grab their cleaning buckets along with their utensils and depart from the wreaker as they begin making their way to the garage. Now reaching the entrance of the garage, they stand before Hacker.

"You called boss?" Buzz questions.

"Yes, I did." Hacker replies. "I have another job for you two."

"But what about the wreaker?" Delete asks. "You told us to clean it and not stop until it's spotless."

"You can go back to that later on." Hacker replies. "I have another job for you two right now and once that job is done, there are several more that I've got lined up for you. Once those are all done, you two can go back and finish the job on the wreaker. Follow me."

The three now head inside the garage with Hacker guiding the two.

"First job, there is a big mess in the computer room that needs to be straightened up." Hacker begins, continuing to lead the two around. "I can't seem to find any of my most important files, so it will be your jobs to locate those files and place them in a neat pile where I can find them. After that, the kitchen needs to be cleaned up. There are a pile of dishes in the sink that needs to be washed and the floor needs to be mopped. Don't forget to sweep it up first. After that, the main area needs to be straightened up. I want that room spotless! I don't want to see a shred of paper on that floor, not one. Are you two getting all of this?"

"Yes boss." Delete replies.

"Good, when you're done with those chores, there is more for you two to do." Hacker replies. "If you do a good job on all of your chores, I may just lift your punishment and let you two play your favorite game after all, but that's ONLY if you do a good job. I'll be the judge in deciding that for you."

Buzz and Delete sigh as they continue following Hacker and taking in his never ending chore list. Continuing to follow the cyborg, the three now enter the room the television is in. Delete turns to the tv and notices a moving binary stream on the screen. Seeing that makes Delete stop in his tracks and keep his attention the screen. With Hacker continuing to pass out his chore list, he doesn't notice that Delete is no longer following him. However Buzz is still following him. With his full attention on the television screen, Delete notices that the binary stream is moving very wildly across the screen.

Now approaching the television, Delete continues noticing the activity of the stream. Continuing to move about wildly, the stream now forms into the ball and paddle game. The ball in the middle is bouncing off the two walls on both sides of the screen. Delete gains a curious look.

The stream now transforms into a lion, a roaring one at that. Delete is continuing to watch.

The stream now transforms into King Adam's face with an evil smile. A wave of fear now comes over Delete as he begins frantically looking around the room for Hacker or Buzz. Not seeing either of them, Delete steps back from the television while continuing to look around for Hacker or Buzz.

"Boss!" Delete calls out.

"Now your second set of chores is going to be…."Hacker continues, but is cut off by Delete calling out to him.

Hearing Delete call out to him stops him in his tracks as well as brings his demanding list to a halt. Continuing to hear Delete calling him, Hacker begins making his way back to Delete.

"What is it Delete and why aren't you taking down the chores I am giving you?" Hacker questions, now approaching the robot.

"Uh boss, I think we may have a problem." Delete replies.

"And what might that be?" Hacker questions. "Whatever it is, it better be of utmost importance for interrupting me."

Delete doesn't reply, but instead points at the television screen. Seeing Delete do that, Hacker looks to the screen and notices nothing is there. Hacker turns back to Delete.

"You interrupted me to show me a blank television screen?" Hacker asks, feeling his temper surfacing.

"There was something on the screen a minute ago." Delete speaks up. "I was looking right at it. First it was a ping pong game, then a lion, and then King Adam. Boss, I think……" Delete is cut off by Hacker's roaring.

"King Adam?!?" Hacker roars. "King Adam was destroyed in the game and is long gone so it's impossible that you saw him! Next time while I am talking, you are to not interrupt me ever again! Do you understand me?"

"But boss, I really did see….." Delete says, but is cut off by Hacker raising his hand.

"I don't want to hear anymore!" Hacker snaps. "Since your imagination got the best of you, you missed of most of the chores that I spoke of, which means that you now have double the chores to do. Now come on and no more lagging behind!"

Having said that, Hacker now storms off. Taking more look at the television screen, Delete begins on his way to catch up with Hacker.

"I know what I saw and I don't think Adam is gone like the boss wants to believe." Delete says himself as he continues catching up with Hacker.

Earth (Inez's Residence)

The movie, Lawnmower Man has ended with Inez and Jackie both sighing in relief.

"I thought that movie would never end." Jackie says.

"You said it Jackie." Inez agrees.

"Inez, I thought you liked movies like this." Matt says to Inez as he turns to her. "I mainly picked this movie for you because I know how much you love any movie with technology in it."

"You picked the movie for me?" Inez asks, her eyes softening. "Matt, that is so sweet, I don't know what to say."

"If I would have known that you wouldn't have enjoyed this movie, I would have never picked it out." Matt sincerely speaks to Inez. "Next time we go movie hunting, I'll let you pick the movie."

"Thanks so much Matt." Inez replies, now planting a kiss on Matt's cheek. "Now I know of a great movie we can watch next that we all will enjoy."

Hearing Inez say that, Slider and Matt turn to each other and nod.

"Romance movie." Both boys say in unison.

"You don't want to watch the movie that I picked out Slider?" Jackie asks with a slightly sad expression.

"No, it's not that Jax." Slider begins. "I just know what my girl likes and considering how well I know you, I knew you were going to pick a romance movie. Any movie you like, I like too."

Jackie smiles.

"So what do you say Matt?" Inez asks. "You up for watching the romance movie?"

"If you're watching it, then I'd love to watch it with you." Matt replies, placing his arm around Inez.

"Ok, which movie do you guys want to watch?" Jackie inquires to the group. "I have Terms Of Endearment and Fly Away to Her heart. Which will it be?"

"How about Fly Away to Her Heart." Slider requests. "Even the title sounds cool."

"Oh my goodness!" Jackie squeals. "I so love this movie! I've seen it like a billion times!"

"Do you know Jackie or what?" Matt says to Slider.

That remark earns him a punch in the arm from Inez.

"Ow, what did I say?" Matt asks, now grabbing his sore arm.

"Great choice Jax." Inez replies.

"Ok, Fly Away to Her Heart it is." Jackie says as she grabs the DVD case.

With Jackie making her way to the DVD player, Slider's SKWAK begins beeping. Hearing it, Slider reaches into his sweat shirt pocket and grabs it, now bringing it into view. Pressing the communication button, Dr. Marbles appears on the screen.

"Slider?" Dr. Marbles says.

"I'm here doc." Slider replies. "What's up?"

"I have the greatest news for all of you!" Dr. Marbles says with excitement. "Motherboard and I have been working on a new project that will revolutionize all of Cyberspace! I can't exactly explain the details over this communication link, so I am requesting that you all please make an appearance here as soon as possible to witness the new age of technology!"

"Motherboard and Dr. Marbles have the greatest plan yet!" Widget confirms, now appearing on the screen. "It's awesome!"

"Ok doc, we'll be there right away." Slider says, now closing communication and putting his SKWAK pad back in his pocket.

"Who was that Sly?" Jackie questions as she pops the movie into the DVD player.

"Dr. Marbles." Slider answers. "He wants us at Control Central right away to take part in the project that he and Motherboard are working on, which means movie day will have to be put on hold."

"Did he tell you what He and Motherboard are working on?" Matt asks as he and Inez gets to their feet.

"Nope, that's why he wants us at CC right away." Slider answers Matt.

"And I was so looking forward to watching Fly Away to Her Heart." Jackie lightly whines.

"Don't worry Jackie, we'll watch it once we return from Cyberspace." Slider says with assurance as he approaches Jackie. "How about this, when we get back, you and I will watch it together. Just the two of us."

Hearing that brings a smile to Jackie's face as the two now lock gazes.

"I'd love that Sly." Jackie replies.

The purple portal to cyberspace now appears in the middle of the living room.

"Hey, love birds the portal is here." Matt informs them. "We wouldn't want to keep Dr. Marbles and Motherboard waiting."

"We better get going." Jackie sweetly says to Slider.

"After you, my lady." Slider says, motioning for Jackie to go first.

With that, Jackie and Slider now approach the portal with Jackie jumping in first and Slider going in behind her.

"When we return from Cyberspace, we're going to watch an action movie." Matt says. "I don't think I can sit through two hours of them making out."

Inez punches Matt in the arm for that statement. She now enters the portal.

"Inez, what did I say this time?" Matt asks as he grabs his arm and enters the portal. "Ouch, you hit hard."

With the kids inside, the portal closes.

Inner Cyberspace Networks

In the inner networks of cyberspace, a blue binary data stream is flowing as it exits from the Northern Frontier's computer main frame. The stream now stops flowing as it begins forming the outline of a figure. The forming of the outline is continuing as the binary code begins filling out the figure. The formation of the figure is now complete as the binary code disappears to reveal a reborn King Adam. Seeing that he is no longer a data stream, King Adam begins looking his newly formed body over.

"I'm back!" Adam cheers. "I am alive and back in power! Ha! Those bratty kids and that dimwitted cyborg thought they got rid of me for good back in Digital Doom, but boy do I have one heck of a surprise waiting for them!"

Raising his arms above his head, white streams of data begins flowing into Adam's finger tips. With the streams of data entering his finger tips, the white streams now begin circling his body.

"Yes, Yes!" Adam roars. "I can feel the power surging through me! I feel so alive and back in control!

Adam now brings his arms down and closes his hands. Bringing his closed fists into view, Adam can see them radiating with a white light.

"Hacker was my first down fall and those kids were my second, but I guarantee that there will not be a third time!" Adam says. "This is my time to be victorious and I will be VICTORIOUS!"

Bringing his hands down to his side, Adam begins looking around.

"This is all too perfect." Adam speaks as an evil grin forms. "I am in the very center of Cyberspace, the epicenter where everything connects and where every computer in all of cyberspace comes together. My ideal playground where I can choose to play with whatever I want."

Hearing how that last sentence came out, Adam clears his throat.

"Ok, for future reference, I'll think my words through more thoroughly first before speaking." Adam says with a nod. "But with everything right at my disposal, there's no need for me to make a plan because my work has already been cut out for me. I may need a few hands of assistance to finish off those kids and Hacker, but I want to see how much damage I can cause on my own first."

Continuing to look around his surroundings, Adam now spots an open network gate.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Adam says, keeping his attention on the open gate. "I wonder where that network gate leads to. It would be awful rude of me to just go right in, not knowing if I am entering a major computer main frame or a small network. Well, there is only one way for me to find out."

Chuckling evilly to himself, Adam transforms back into the binary data stream as he begins making his way towards the open gate.

Control Central 

The purple portal appears with the cybersquad jumping out. With the kids safely at CC, the portal now closes.

"Is it just me or was the portal ride over here just a bit rough?" Slider questions as he rubs his back.

"I thought it was a smooth ride as always." Matt replies. "But my arm still hurts."

"Learn to think before you speak next time." Inez says with a glaring vision.

Digit and Widget emerge from the equipment/laboratory room and notices the kids.

"Hello earthlies!" Digit greets the kids, now getting their attention. "The doc has been looking for you all. He has something big he wants you to be a witness of. Follow me."

"And yet, no one is telling us what that something 'big' is." Matt comments, quickly grabbing his arm incase Inez has in her mind to punch him in it again.

The 4 now follow Digit into the room to find Dr. Marbles, Motherboard on the room's big projector screen and a dozen waist high robots standing in a line.

"Oh cool, Rock em' Sock em' robots!" Matt says. "I call dibs on the first one!"

"I'm afraid you are mistaken Matt." Dr. Marbles speaks up. "These, my earth friend, are the new age of Cyberspace! I call them Artificial Digital Intelligence robots! Motherboard and I felt that, after witnessing King Adam's manipulation of data, that we could simply mock his movements by using data for good and not for evil unlike him. These robots will appear on every cybersite in cyberspace and will be used to respond to emergencies when other forms of help aren't available. Once the emergency mode has been test and is hopefully successful, they will also be used to help the much older cybersite residences."

While Dr. Marbles is continuing to explain the project, he doesn't notice the dashboard on the computer's panel suddenly light up. With the dashboard lit up, a few sparks now erupt from it as a power surge enters the connecting cords attached to the robots. The surge now enters the robots with them coming alive and their eyes gleaming red.

"So after all testing of the emergency mode is complete, I will then add a few more component parts to the robots." Dr. Marbles continues explaining.

With the robots alive, they now turn towards the group and raise their mechanical arms. Their hands now change into laser guns.

"So how exactly do the robots work in what you're trying to achieve Dr. Marbles?" Inez asks.

"I'm glad you asked that Inez." Dr. Marbles replies. "That is what I wanted all of you here to witness."

Turning around, Dr. Marbles now notices the robots are facing them and are pointing laser guns towards the team.

"Those robots weren't like that when we first came in here were they doc?" Digit questions.

"No, Digit, they weren't." Dr. Marbles answers the cybird.

"Something about those bots don't seem right to me." Slider speaks up. "It's like they are alive."

With the robots facing the team, the cords attached to the back of the robots now detach as they begin walking towards the team with their laser gun beginning to charge.

"You're right Slider, something about those robots aren't right." Matt agrees. "They are alive and are coming after us!"

* * *

Whoa! What is going on? Dr. Marbles and Motherboard's new project is turning out to be a death trap and King Adam is back! Is he behind the robots coming alive and will the team be able to get themselves out of this one? These questions answered and more in the next chapter of Digital Catastrophe! Next chapter: Artificial Digital Intelligence project is aborted and Delete's suspicions are confirmed!

**Review Please!**


	3. Face Of The Past

**I'm the first Cyberchase story update of 2010! YAY!!!**

Chapter 3: Face Of The Past

'King Adam is back and his first target is the Cybersquad. Will the cybersquad be able to figure it out in time before he strikes?'

Control Central

With the robots facing the team, the cords attached to the back of the robots now detach as they begin walking towards the team with their laser guns beginning to charge.

"You're right Slider, something about those robots aren't right." Matt agrees. "They are alive and are coming after us!"

"This was not a part of the project!" Dr. Marbles fusses. "They weren't programmed to do this!"

"This may not be a part of their programming, but they are alive and we're they're target!" Slider says, now pushing Jackie behind him. Matt follows suite and places Inez behind him.

The laser cannons attached to the robots' arms has finished charging as they now open fire at the team. Everyone scatters all over the room to avoid the deadly assault. Dr. Marbles ducks under the desk, Slider and Jackie take refuge behind a stack of boxes on the left side of the room, Matt and Inez duck behind a turned over desk on the right side of the room and Digit along with Widget fly to the light fixture above.

The lasers are causing major damage to the room as they destroy everything they come in contact with. Dr. Marbles' computer chair is being blown to bits to where it is no longer recognizable.

"Those things are out of control!" Jackie says to Slider.

"If this is the future of how data will be used, I don't want any part of it." Slider replies as he tightly holds onto Jackie. "I'll just stick with the manual method."

"Tell me Dr. Marbles didn't bring us here for this." Inez says to Matt as she holds onto him tightly.

"I'm pretty sure this wasn't what he had in mind when he called us here." Matt replies.

"I have to stop those robots before they completely destroy control central." Dr. Marbles say to himself.

With the robots aiming mainly at the left and right sides of the room, Dr. Marbles comes from under the desk and begins to quickly type commands into the computer. The robots data and statistics now come up on the screen. Beginning to look through the data, Dr. Marbles begins trying to find any information that could explain the robots out of control behavior. Continuing to look through the data, he is finding nothing so far.

"There has got to be a reason why these robots are going berserk like this!" Dr. Marbles frantically says, continuing to search through the data.

Continuing his search, the screen is now hit with a barrage of lasers, which knocks Dr. Marbles onto the floor and completely destroys the computer screen.

"Jackie, you stay here, I'll be right back." Slider says to Jackie. "I know how I can stop this robot rampage."

"Slider, have you lost it?" Jackie says to her boyfriend as she grips onto his shirt. "It's too dangerous and I don't want you risking your safety."

"Jackie, it's the only way to stop those robots." Slider replies. "Please trust me when I say I have it under control and that I'll be alright."

Gazing into Slider's eyes, Jackie smiles and nods.

"I trust you." Jackie replies. "But please be careful."

"I will." Slider says with a nod.

Kissing Jackie, Slider begins looking around the area for a potential weapon to stop the robots. Spotting a medium sized metal beam across from him and Jackie that fell from the ceiling, Slider now grabs it. Gripping it, he comes from behind the boxes and begins smashing the robots closest to him and Jackie's area.

Matt and Inez now peek over the desk they are hiding behind to see if it's safe to come out and notices that Slider is battling a hoard of robots. A robot spots the two and sends a barrage of lasers their way. Matt and Inez duck back behind the desk as the lasers impact it.

"What is Slider doing?" Inez questions as she tightly holds onto Matt. "Has he lost it? He could get killed!"

"If that's what it takes to stop this rampage, then I'm with him." Matt says in agreement. "I'm going to go help him."

"Hey, don't leave me here." Inez says. "I'm coming with you."

Peeking out over the desk once more, the two now spot two metal beams in front of the desk. Jumping from behind the desk, Matt and Inez quickly grab those as they join in the robot bashing.

Having smashed one set of robots, Slider now notices two robots approaching him from the left. Smirking, Slider swiftly swings the pole towards the robots. The pole impacts them and knocks them to the ground in pieces.

"Now that's what I call 'going to pieces'." Slider jokes.

Jackie, who is still in hiding behind the boxes, is unaware of two robots that have made their way over to her and are approaching her from behind.

"Hello my mistress." A familiar voice now speaks to her.

Hearing the voice behind her, Jackie quickly turns around and spots two robots aiming their laser cannons at her as they continue approaching her.

"When I said you haven't seen the last of me Princess, I wasn't bluffing." Kind Adam's voice speaks from the robots. "Now it's time to finish what I started!"

With the robots inching closer, Jackie begins moving back and soon finds herself against the wall with nowhere to run.

"Looks like you're between two robots and a hard place princess." Adam says with a snicker. "Any last words?"

Jackie can feel her words getting caught in her throat from fear.

With most of the robots smashed, Slider now looks back to where he left Jackie and spots two robots going behind the boxes with three more heading in that direction.

"Oh no you don't!" Slider growls. "Not Jackie!"

Gripping the pole tighter, Slider begins heading towards the boxes to rescue Jackie.

"You betrayed me Princess!" Adam roars. "I could have given you everything you ever wanted and more, but instead you betrayed me for some commoner who couldn't make you nearly as happy as I could have! But that's quite alright as I am going to get my revenge this day! Say good-bye forever princess!"

Just before Jackie can release a scream, the two robots are slammed against the wall with Slider coming into view. Seeing him brings a smile to Jackie's face.

"Are you ok Jackie?" Slider asks as he rushes to her side. "Those robots didn't hurt you did they?"

"No they didn't and I'm alright thanks to you." Jackie replies, now embracing Slider in a tight hug. "I'll always be safe with you around. I love you so much."

"I love you too Jackie." Slider says, returning the hug.

Digit and Widget are still in the light fixture above the room and are watching as the robots are being smashed to pieces.

"We have to go down there and help the team out." Digit says to widget.

"How Digit?" Widget questions. "Won't we get damaged in the process?"

Before Digit can reply to his younger half, a laser beam now hits the wires that are holding the light fixture in the ceiling.

"Uh oh, that can't be good." Digit says.

With the wires damaged by the laser, the light fixture is beginning to separate from the ceiling.

Matt and Inez are side by side as five robots are approaching them.

"What do we do now Matt?" Inez questions, keeping her vision on the robots. "It's 5 of them and only 2 of us. If we attack even one of them, we are at risk of becoming Swiss cheese."

"I know what you mean." Matt agrees, also keeping his attention on the robots. "I'm out of ideas."

"Oh great!" Inez fumes. "The one time I need you to think of something, you can't, but you can come up with a plan for everything else in a heartbeat!"

"Sorry if I act on impulse 90 percent of the time." Matt replies as he and Inez take a step back as the robots take a step forward.

"Well, we have to do something." Inez says. "I don't know how much longer we can hold them off."

The light fixture containing Digit and Widget now falls on the 5 robots, instantly smashing them to pieces.

"Wow, that was unexpected." Matt says with surprise.

"Unexpected or not, way to go Didge!" Inez cheers. "You saved us just in time!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Digit gloats.

Matt begins looking around the room for more robots and spots none.

"Well, that's the last of them." Matt says with a sigh. "Slider, Jackie, it's safe to come out. You too doc."

Hearing that, Slider and Jackie now come from behind the boxes and make their way over to Inez and Matt.

"Man, what a day." Slider says as he begins looking around the room as well as everyone else.

From what the cybersquad can see, the entire room is in complete and total disarray. The debris from the destroyed robots is mixed into the debris of what the robots destroyed in the room.

Dr. Marbles now gets to his feet and begins looking around the room. The look of destroyed robot parts and the debris from the destroyed room is bringing sorrow to the cyborg doctor's eyes.

"The project!" Dr. Marbles begins. "Me and Motherboard's project…is…a.. complete DISASTER! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"

"Sorry doc, but we had to stop the robots somehow." Slider apologizes. "It was either them or us."

"I wonder what made the robots go berserk like that." Matt wonders as he drops the beam he was holding. "I know this wasn't a part of the doc's plan."

"Of course it wasn't." Inez replies.

"While I was still behind the boxes, the two robots that cornered me, spoke to me in King Adam's voice." Jackie speaks up, her voice full of fear. "He called me his mistress and princess."

Slider pulls Jackie close to him and can feel she is trembling.

"King Adam's voice?" Matt says in question.

"You guys don't think Adam is behind why the robots got out of control like that do you?" Slider asks.

"How could he be?" Inez speaks. "He was destroyed in the game. Jackie saw to that and Matt and I were a witness."

"Maybe that's what he wanted us to believe while he had another objective in mind." Slider replies.

"But if Jackie said the robots spoke to her in his voice, there is a strong possibility that Adam was behind the robots' erratic behavior." Matt says. "I wouldn't rule anything out, but at the same time, we can't be sure."

"Jackie, are you sure you heard Adam speak to you?" Inez questions her best friend.

Jackie nods.

"Then it's confirmed." Slider says. "But before we do any further investigations or get into specifics, Inez, take Jackie to the spare room to lie down while Matt and I help Dr. Marbles clean up this mess."

"And what a mess it is." Matt says, taking a look around the room.

Inez nudges Matt in the side for that comment.

"You guys won't have to do it alone, me and Widget will help out." Digit offers.

"The perfect project ruined!" Dr. Marbles cries as he falls to his knees. "All of the hard work and dedication that went into it is..….WASTED!"

Departing from Matt, Inez now takes the trembling Jackie from Slider and begins walking her to the spare room.

"You'll be ok Jackie." Inez comforts her best friend.

"The perfect project…gone!" Dr. Marbles continues wallowing as he grabs up some of the robot parts and grips them.

"It'll be ok doc." Matt says with comfort as he kneels down next to Dr. Marbles.

"Alright guys, let's get to work." Slider sighs.

Flying to the left side of the room, Digit grabs the broom and dust pan as he begins making his way back over to the guys.

Matt helps Doctor Marbles to his feet and sits him down on a box. With that, he, Slider, Digit and Widget begins cleaning up the mess.

Inner Network Of Cyberspace

The blue data stream now exits the open network gate of control central and reforms back into King Adam.

"So that's where that open network gate led to." Adam says. "Well, I'll have to keep that in mind and it sure was nice seeing Jackie again. My mistress looked just beautiful as when I first laid eyes on her. I will be back for her, but for now, I have to pay an old friend a little visit."

Forming back into a blue data stream, a maniacal laugh can be heard throughout the network as Adam begins heading towards the Northern Frontier.

Northern Frontier

Buzz and Delete are in Hacker's computer room organizing his file folders, having already done the dishes, the sweeping and moping of every floor in the wreaker's garage and the other chores Hacker spouted off. From the way they look, both robots can pass out any minute from all of the work they have done.

"And that's the last of the organizing of the file folders." Delete says, now placing the last file folder at the top of the pile. "They are color coded and have been placed in alphabetical order so the boss knows where everything is and can find what he needs easily."

The tall robot now collapses to the floor next to Buzz.

"Was that the last chore on the list?" Delete questions, not making eye contact with the smaller robot. "Please tell me that it was. I can't do anymore chores."

"From the looks of it, we've completed all of the chores on Hacker's list." Buzz answers. "Organizing the file folders in here was last on the list and it's complete."

"Great." Delete sighs in relief. "I don't think I can move anymore Buzzy."

"Well with all of our chores done, all we need now is the boss's approval of our work and then we're back playing Guards of the Dragon in no time!" Buzz says with excitement.

"With all that we've done, he has to approve." Delete says as he pulls himself off of the floor. "Come on, let's go tell him we're done."

Placing the outgoing mail basket on the computer desk, both robots now leave the room, being unaware of the computer monitor suddenly coming on with King Adam's face appearing on it. Smirking, Adam's face disappears from the screen with the computer monitor going dark.

Hacker's Lab

Hacker is currently going through his folder of his plans to take over cyberspace and is shredding those that he has used and has failed with. In anyone's opinion, he should shred the entire folder.

"Lady Lovelace's time machine accelerator to revive my Transformatron plan." Hacker says as he looks over the file. "What a bust and complete waste of time that was."

Removing the file from the folder, Hacker now places it in the shredder. With that file destroyed, Hacker continues looking through the folder. He now comes across the file: Motherboard's New Virus. Quickly giving it a read over, Hacker scoffs.

"I think the virus she has now will do." Hacker says as he places that file into the shredder. Like the file before that one, it is now confetti.

Continuing to look through the file folder, Hacker doesn't notice his computer monitor suddenly turn on. Adam's face appears on the screen as the eyes begin scanning the room. Adam's eyes now land on Hacker as a smirk crosses his lips.

"Perfect." Adam says to himself. "Hacker, oh Hacker."

Hearing his name being called, Hacker now perks up and begins looking around the room. Not hearing his name being called anymore, he goes back to looking through the file folder. Finding another previously tried and failed plan, Hacker places it into the shredder.

"What was I thinking when I came up with these plans?" Hacker asks himself, continuing to look through the folder. Yet another plan goes in the shredder.

"That's simple, you weren't thinking at all." Adam's voice answers Hacker's rhetorical question.

Hearing the voice behind him, Hacker quickly turns around and spots King Adam's face on his computer monitor. Seeing that makes Hacker's eyes widen.

"K….Ki….Kin…g Adam?" Hacker stammers. "Ho…w…?

"Let me save you the trouble." Adam begins. "Like those rotten kids, you thought I went down when my game was destroyed, but as you can see, I'm very much alive and might I add, even more powerful than before."

"But you were defeated by those earth brats, I mean the cybersquad." Hacker replies and corrects. "There is no way you can be alive."

"Believe it Hacker and if you thought my game was a rough ride, get ready for what's in store for you and those kids next." Adam says with a grin. "It'll really make your heads spin."

"Whatever your plan is, I'll be ready!" Hacker spits. "You were defeated once and you will be defeated again!"

"On the contrary, it is you who will lose this time." Adam calmly replies. "From my understanding, you have a rivalry with Motherboard and the Cybersquad, even though in the game you were forced to work with them. It disgusted you in some way to go against your principals."

"What's it to you and what are you getting at?!" Hacker snaps.

"Now I can't go revealing my plan all to you at once." Adam says in a playful tone. "It wouldn't be a plan fit for a bad guy if I did that now would it?"

"Cut your yapping and get to the point!" Hacker growls.

"Fine, if you insist." Adam sighs. "Heed my words Hacker, with me in this form, you, Motherboard, and the cybersquad's days are numbered."

"You're not scaring me Adam!" Hacker retorts. "You forget, I live on the Northern Frontier, I'm immune to threats, especially yours!"

"I wouldn't call what I said a threat, but more like a warning." Adam replies. "If I were you, I'd listen and listen well."

Hacker releases a fierce growl, wishing more than ever that he could reach through the computer screen and strangle Adam.

"Well, I'd like to stay and chat, but I have more chaos to spread." Adam says with a light chuckle. "Tata for now."

The computer monitor now shuts off as an evil laugh echoes through the lab. With his file folder still in his hands, Hacker rips it in half from anger.

Buzz and Delete, who arrived at the lab 2 minutes ago, overheard everything.

"I was right all along!" Delete says now turning to Buzz. "King Adam is back! I just wish I knew what his plan was so we can counter it."

"Why don't we just go in and ask the boss." Buzz suggests. "He'll tell us."

"No, let's not." Delete replies. "Instead, I have another idea. Let the boss cool off for now while we contact Motherboard and Dr. Marbles about this."

"But what if the boss catches us talking to Motherboard and Dr. Marbles?" Buzz asks. "He'll be super angry at us and we won't be allowed to play Guards Of The Dragon for the rest of our lives."

"I don't care if he does." Delete says with determination. "If we want to stop Adam before he strikes again, we have to contact them. They will know what to do about this. Let's go Buzzy."

With no words spoken from Buzz, both robots now begin heading for the main computer in the garage.

Control Central

Inez is sitting with Jackie in the spare room while Matt, Slider, and Digit along with Widget are continuing to clean up the equipment/Laboratory room. Slider now places a tie on a full garbage bag.

"Well, this is the last bag." Slider says. "It's not as heavy as I thought it'd be with all of the robot parts and all."

"If King Adam is behind this, he really did a number on this place." Matt says, now taking a seat on one of the boxes in the room.

"You heard what Jackie said, it was him." Slider replies. "He spoke to her and I believe that he did as well."

"But he was destroyed along with his game." Matt says. "It's hard to believe that he actually survived the damage the game underwent after we got out."

"Anything is possible Matt." Slider calmly speaks to the red head. "This is cyberspace after all. You have to expect the unexpected."

"The kids' got a point." Digit adds in.

"I guess, but how can we be absolutely certain that he is behind this?" Matt questions. "We have no evidence."

"We have plenty of evidence." Digit speaks up. "It's all around us. Raging robots, what use to be this room, take your pick. If I say so myself, Adam is behind it all and you heard what Jackie said. He spoke to her through the robots. If that's not evidence then I don't know what is."

"Well, no matter how any of us wants to look at it, we have no solid proof it was him." Dr. Marbles says. "I do believe that Jackie heard his voice, but it could have been a repercussion of being inside the game."

"I didn't think of that." Slider says.

"Why don't you kids head back to earth while Motherboard and I figure the rest of this out." Dr. Marbles says.

"Are you sure you won't need our help?" Slider asks.

"Affirmative." Dr. Marbles replies with a nod.

"I'll go get Jackie and Inez." Matt says, now getting to his feet.

Spare Room

Inez is sitting at the desk across from Jackie, who is laid out on the couch asleep. The door to the room now opens with Matt stepping inside. Inez looks up and notices Matt approaching her.

"How is she doing?" Matt whispers, now taking notice of the sleeping girl on the couch.

"She's fine." Inez replies in a whisper. "It took her a while to calm down, but once she did, she fell asleep and hasn't woken up once."

"Dr. Marbles wants us to head home now." Matt informs her.

"Did you guys finish cleaning up the room?" Inez asks.

"Yep and what a cleanup that was." Matt answers.

"Ok, I'll wake her up and we'll meet you guys out there." Inez says to Matt.

With a nod, Matt places a kiss on Inez's cheek and exits the room.

Getting to her feet, Inez makes her way over to Jackie and begins to lightly shake her.

"Time to wake up Jackie." Inez softly speaks to her best friend.

Feeling someone shaking her, Jackie opens her eyes to see Inez. Sitting up, Jackie yawns.

"What's up Inez?" Jackie greets.

"Matt says that Dr. Marbles ordered for us to head back to earth." Inez informs her.

"Ok." Jackie simply replies as she rises from the couch.

"Are you going to be ok?" Inez questions with concern.

"I should be." Jackie answers with a small smile.

While Inez is exchanging words with Jackie, Inez's SWKAK pad's screen lights up for a second before going dark.

"You go ahead, I just have to disconnect my SKWAK from the computer." Inez says.

Nodding, Jackie makes her way out the room as Inez now disconnects her SKWAK pad from the computer. Wrapping the cord up and placing the SKWAK pad in her vest pocket, Inez begins making her way out of the room.

* * *

Whoa! What a day the cybersquad had! Robot bashing, Adam striking, it's enough to make your head spin! And Inez's SKWAK pad screen lit up! What happened there? Is it possible that Adam is now inside Inez's SKWAK pad and she is taking him to earth with her? These questions answered and more in the next chapter of Digital Catastrophe! Next chapter of Digital Catastrophe: The real world will be introduced to a new threat!

**Review Please and Happy New Year Everyone!**


	4. Welcome To Earth

**I am so sorry that this chapter took so long being posted. I have been extremely busy with school, but I will try to have the next chapter posted sooner next time. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Welcome To Earth

'Having battled King Adam in robot form, the cyber squad has been sent home, but is Adam heading home with them?'

Having been transported back to earth, Inez now walks through the front door of her house. Closing the door behind her, she begins looking around the living room for any signs of her parents and cat, but doesn't see a trace of either of them anywhere in sight. Maybe they are in the back of the house and didn't hear her come in.

"Mom, dad, I'm home." Inez announces.

Not getting a response, Inez decides to try again.

"Mom, dad?" Inez calls out once more.

Not getting a response this time, Inez places her house key on the table next to the door and begins making her way to her room. Continuing to make her way there, Gatito now runs from her room and meets with Inez in the living room. Seeing the cat brings a smile to Inez's face.

"Hi boy." Inez greets to her cat. "I called out to you and from what it appears, we're the only ones at home at this point."

Gatito meows at what Inez has said.

"That's right, we do have the place to ourselves." Inez responds, now picking up her cat. "And I'm going to use that time to relax. After dealing with what I had to, I need the rest more than ever."

With her cat in her arms, Inez makes her way to her room. Entering, Inez places Gatito on the bed and removes her SKWAK pad from her vest pocket, now placing it on her computer desk next to the keyboard.

"Boy what a day." Inez says with a sigh as she kicks off her boots. "I don't even want to think about or see another robot after what I dealt with today."

Having her boots off, Inez takes a seat at the desk and turns on her computer, waiting for it to boot up. The computer completely boots up with Inez entering her password. She is immediately brought to the desktop. The desktop background is a picture of her, Jackie, Slider and Matt taken in Cyberspace in front of Control Central. Seeing how Matt is smiling brings a small smile to her face.

"That's just like my Matt." Inez says to herself. "He can never take a picture with a decent smile."

Picking up her SKWAK, Inez looks on the screen and notices that the battery is half dead.

"I just charged this thing at Control Central." Inez lightly whines. "The portal ride back here must have drained half the battery. Portals have a tendency to be very unstable."

Unwrapping the cord from around her SKWAK, Inez plugs the SKWAK into her computer so it can charge. Placing the device on top of the computer tower, Inez clicks on her email. Putting all of her attention into her email, Inez doesn't notice the SKWAK's screen light up along with a power surge that streams from the device, down the cord, and into the computer. Continuing to check her mail, Inez notices the computer monitor screen flicker. Not really paying it any attention, Inez continues checking her email.

Seeing that she has an email from Jackie, Inez opens the email and begins reading her best friend's message.

Inez's Hard Drive

The blue data stream flows into the Hard Drive's executable sector and now takes the form of King Adam. Being in full form, Adam begins looking around as an evil smile forms on his face.

"Well, Well, Well, just where did I end up this time?" Adam asks, continuing to look around. "It doesn't appear that I am in cyberspace anymore or am I?"

Continuing to look around, Adam now turns around and spots an open network gate with a sign over it that says: Inez's Computer Network. Seeing that, Adam gains an idea.

"Inez's computer network?" Adam says to himself. "I must be on earth and not to mention, inside of one of the cybersquad's computer network. I thought creating chaos in cyberspace was fun, but it appears I was sadly mistaken. Being inside a network where other computers are linked to and creating chaos will be so much more fun. The chaos I can create is endless, not to mention, I'll have access to every computer on earth! I will become stronger with each network I enter and corrupt!"

Continuing to ponder his plans to himself, Adam now catches sight of an email flying overhead. Seeing the member address on the email's from section, Adam notices it's Inez's member address and the email is addressed to Jackie.

"What a gold mine!" Adam says. "I now have the perfect plan as to how I am going to pay those brats back for destroying my game and casting me aside like common trash."

Turning back into the blue data stream, Adam now flows toward Inez's open computer network gate. Entering the gate, Adam reforms back into himself and begins looking around. Taking a look around, Adam notices Inez's address book along with a lot of saved files and programs on the hard drive. Taking a look at the '"outbox" in Inez' email client, Adam notices that she doesn't have a lot of sent emails. The email she just sent to Jackie is time stamped for just that day while the other sent emails are from two weeks to a month ago.

"So, she doesn't have many sent emails huh?" Adam says with a grin. "Well, I can change that. With everyone in her address book, I'm sure they'd like to hear from dear old Inez and I know exactly whose member address I'm going to start with."

Eyeing Jackie's member address, Slider'sGirl66, Adam forms into his data stream and flows towards the email address.

Having sent her email to Jackie, Inez is now visiting her favorite computer forum site and doesn't notice that her email client on the desktop has turned transparent.

Control Central

Dr. Marbles, Motherboard, Digit and Widget are in the main room with Dr. Marbles going over the A.D.I. project statistics, desperately searching for what could have caused the robots to go out of control. Remembering what Jackie said, Dr. Marbles is searching through the data on Motherboard's screen, trying to see if Adam was truly the cause of why the robots attacked them.

"So did you find anything as of yet doc?" Digit questions.

"Negative Digit." Dr. Marbles replies, not making eye contact with the cybird. "I am still searching and am hoping to stumble upon something soon. There has to be an explanation as to what caused Motherboard and I's project to lose control like that and attack us."

"What about what Jackie said about Adam?" Widget inquires. "If you ask me, I say Adam is behind it as well."

"As much as I want to agree with that Widget, I have to see if there were any malfunctions or maybe a glitch involved." Dr. Marbles replies, not making eye contact with the small cybird. "However, I'm not going to rule it out all together."

"What other proof do you have or need?" Digit asks, his tone full of frustration. "It was Adam, flat out! The robots didn't respond that way by themselves and you heard Jackie! Adam spoke to her and if she says she heard him, I believe her! It was Adam who made those robots come at us like that. Nothing else was the cause!"

"Please calm down Digit." Motherboard's soft voice speaks. "Due to Adam's history, he would be the perfect candidate to blame for the damages, but we can't be entirely sure. Every procedure has to be searched before we can fully say what was really behind the attack. Plus, Adam was destroyed in Digital Doom, so there is a slim to zero chance that he was behind the attack."

"Just please be patient Digit and surely, I will come across the problem." Dr. Marbles adds in as he continues searching the project data on the screen. "Like Motherboard said, Adam is the perfect target for the blame due to his history. Once I identify the problem, I will surely find a solution for it."

"No one ever listens to the Cybird." Digit sighs.

"I listen to you Digit." Widget says, trying to cheer him up. "Your jokes make me laugh."

Just as Digit opens his beak to reply to Widget, the incoming transmission alert sounds. Doctor Marbles presses the answer button with Buzz and Delete appearing on the screen.

"Greetings Buzz and Delete." Dr. Marbles greets to the robots. "What may I do for you two?"

"Adam is back!" Delete shouts, completely pushing Buzz away from the screen. "Buzzy and I overheard him talking to Hacker in the lab."

"But that's impossible." Dr. Marbles replies. "He was destr…."

"That's what we all thought, but he's not dead." Delete quickly speaks up.

"He was telling Hacker that his days along with all of you and the kids' are numbered." Buzz adds in.

"Did you hear him give Hacker any details of a plan?" Dr. Marbles questions.

"Nope, he just gave Hacker a warning and after that, we heard nothing else." Delete answers. "Hacker didn't believe me in the start that Adam has returned and I knew it all along that Adam wasn't destroyed in the game."

"That sounds VERY familiar." Digit adds in.

"So neither of you know where Adam is or is headed at this point?" Dr. Marbles questions.

"Not a clue, but when I spotted him on the television screen today, he was in the form of a binary stream." Delete answers.

"Binary stream you say?" Dr. Marbles asks for clarification.

"Yep." Delete clarifies.

"Just how early would you say it was when you spotted him on the screen?" Dr. Marbles questions.

"Sometime around 3pm." Delete answers.

"Interesting." Dr. Marbles questions once more to the robot. "The attack here didn't take place until after 4pm. Where is hacker now?"

"He's locked up in his lab." Delete answers. "He hasn't come out since he gave us a list of chores to do."

"No doubt still in shock." Dr. Marbles says to himself. "Ok, here's what's going to happen. Delete, you and Buzz stay close by the computer. After I do a bit more digging into the project's data, I will be in contact with you two. If anything happens to come up there, contact me immediately."

"Will do." Delete says with a nod.

The transmission now ends as the main screen now returns to the A.D.I. project data and statistics.

"Now, just how much more proof do you need to know King Adam is behind the robot rampage?" Digit speaks up, now folding his wings across his chest. "You heard Delete, he saw him before any of us did and he spoke to Hacker. Delete maybe a bad guy, but if it's one thing that I know about him and that's if he sees or hears something, he won't give up until he proves it."

"If what Delete said is what happened, then that means…" Dr. Marbles' words trail off as he begins searching through the project data once more.

Continuing to search, an entry between the start up time of the experiment, which was at 4pm, and the abortion time now stands out at Dr. Marbles. The entry says: Network Interruption. Seeing that entry, Dr. Marbles highlights it. Hitting enter, the details of the entry is brought up on the screen. Reading over the details, Dr. Marbles' eyes land on a detail that makes his eyes widen. The cause of the network interruption was due to a power fluctuation in Motherboard's system. An intruder with a range of home, security threat level low and has the signature KA entered into the system during this time.

"Delete is right about everything." Dr. Marbles manages to say. "Between the start up of the experiment to the time it was aborted, there was a security breech by an intruder and the signature of the intruder is KA."

"King Adam." Motherboard says with confirmation.

"Ok, now that we got that confirmed, how did he get in without being detected?" Digit inquires.

"Because he is in the form of data and not a major virus or worm, it was easy for him to bypass the advanced security system Motherboard has installed." Dr. Marbles explains. "And because he is data, it is easy for him to move in and out of networks like regular data without being detected as a threat. His threat level was low which means he didn't pose a threat to Motherboard and that's how he got in undetected. For his status to be an intruder, I'm surprised he wasn't detected. Even the lowest of threats are still detected."

"So is there a way to stop him from re-entering Motherboard's system or any system despite his form?" Digit inquires. "Now that we know what form he is, that makes it much easier to track him."

"I wish it were that easy Digit." Dr. Marbles says with a sigh as he turns to the cybird. "It's good that we now know what form he has taken on, but without him being a major threat, it's going to be hard to track his every move."

Hearing that, Widget plops to the ground with Digit sighing in frustration.

"Or maybe it won't." Dr. Marbles speaks up, an idea entering his mind.

Digit and Widget now turn to Dr. Marbles.

"What are you talking about doc?" Digit asks in confusion. "You just said it will be impossible to track him."

"Yes, but I overlooked one thing." Dr. Marbles replies. "With each piece of data in cyberspace, there is a signature attached to it, letting the computer know what's entering its network."

"Right, but?" Digit says, wanting to hear the rest.

"So by using King Adam's signature, we can use that to track his every move through cyberspace." Dr. Marbles explains. "All the data in all of cyberspace has a signature on it and because King Adam decided to take on this form, he has no idea just how easy he has made it for us to keep an eye on him. Even if he were to try to take form of another piece of data in cyberspace, his signature will remain the same."

"So what now?" Widget innocently asks.

"I'll tell you what's next my miniature bird friend." Dr. Marbles replies. "I have the perfect program in mind that will make sure we don't lose sight of him. It will tell us exactly where he is and where he's been. I'm going to get started right now and if Delete calls, please inform me."

"Will do Doctor." Motherboard replies.

Dr. Marbles now runs off to get started on his idea, just leaving Motherboard, Digit and Widget in the main room.

Earth

At the Edwards Residence, Jackie is in her room lying on her bed as she gazes lovingly at her picture of Slider.

"I am so happy we met and are together." Jackie says, continuing to gaze at the picture. "I love you so much and wouldn't know what to do without you."

Pulling the picture close, Jackie hugs Slider's picture.

"We will be together now and forever." Jackie says in a dreamy tone. "In the future, I'll be Mrs. Slider….."

Jackie's current sentence comes to a halt, now realizing that she doesn't know Slider's last name.

"I've been dating Slider for over a year now and I don't know his last name." Jackie thinks to herself. "I wonder if he has one. Oh well, whatever it is, I'll be his wife and will be the future Mrs. Slider whatever his last name is."

Gazing at the picture once more, Jackie places it back on her nightstand and grabs the television remote. Pressing on, the television turns onto the weather channel.

"The Weather Channel?" Jackie questions. "I thought I changed it to something else before I went to bed last night."

Not being happy with the current channel selection, Jackie begins channel surfing.

"New at Burger King, the Double Bacon Cheese Burger with Jalapeños."

Change.

"Give your computer the endless memory it deserves."

Change.

"Stop World Hunger."

Change.

"These pants will help you define your hourglass shape! They start at the unbelievable price of 19.99!"

Change.

"Speed up your metabolism with just one pill."

Change.

"In today's news, a new computer worm has been discovered and appears to be a huge threat to computers everywhere."

Change. Having changed from that channel, Jackie turns back to the news, wanting to hear more about the newly discovered computer worm.

"The new computer worm, the Adam worm, has infected over 900 computers today alone with many more to go." The news anchor explains. "The worm attaches to and copies itself in any email client address book and once there, will send out massive emails to all contacts in the address book. The worm is spread by opening an email labeled: 'Let's hang out today' and the member address on the email will be from someone in your address book. In the email is an attachment that instructs the user to download it. The attachment is in the form of a map to tell the user where to meet their friend. Once the map is downloaded, the worm will then erase the hard drive. Currently, computer companies around the world are working on a patch and removal tool to protect all computers everywhere from this worm. If an email with that subject heading finds its way into your inbox, I urge you to delete it immediately. By opening the email, you are infecting not only yourself, but everyone in your address book. This worm is moving at a very rapid pace, so I urge all of you who are watching to take the proper precautions to keep your privacy safe. Back to you Scott."

Heaving heard everything the news anchor has said, the remote falls out of the stunned girl's hand.

"Adam…"Jackie chokes out. "Worm…here?"

Quickly coming out of her shocked state, Jackie grabs her phone and quickly dials Inez. The other end is now ringing.

"Pick up Inez, please pick up." Jackie silently prays to herself.

Garcia Residence

Inez is posting messages in her computer website's forum for when her room phone beings ringing. Hearing it, Inez picks up.

"You've got Inez." Inez greets.

"Inez, Adam is in the real world!" Jackie says in a panic. "I just watched the news and he is a computer worm, having infected over 900 computers already!"

"What?" Inez asks, not believing what she is hearing. "What channel did you see that on?"

"Channel 2." Jackie answers. "He followed us here!"

"I'm well aware Jax." Inez replies now turning her television on and to channel 2.

The rebroadcast that Jackie watched about the worm is now playing. With Inez paying close attention to the news, she doesn't notice her computer monitor screen turn blue with the white words appearing: Windows has crashed! Your information will be deleted! A status bar now appears as it begins counting up to 100.

With the news anchor completing her report on the new computer worm, Inez can feel her throat tighten up.

"Inez? Inez?" Jackie calls out. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah I am." Inez replies. "I can't believe this! He won't stop will he?!"

"I know, me neither." Jackie says, her tone still full of panic. "I know Matt doesn't know about this yet, so please contact him right away!"

"Will do Jax." Inez confirms. "Hang on just a second while I email Matt about this."

Putting the phone down, Inez turns to her computer monitor only to see the windows has crashed message and the status bar that is counting to 100.

"What is going on?" Inez asks, now hitting the backspace on her keyboard. "My system crashed? How?"

The status bar now reaches 100 with the words appearing: Your hard drive has been erased!

Inez can feel herself going into a full blown panic now.

"NO, NO, NO, this can't be happening!" Inez panics.

The screen now goes black as the computer tower begins smoking. With the smoke rising, the hard drive begins spinning uncontrollably. Inez can hear the horrible sound the hard drive is making as it is spinning out of control in the tower. With the tower smoking and the hard drive spinning out of control, the entire tower now explodes, knocking Inez to the floor. Jackie, who is still holding on the line, heard the explosion.

"Inez!" Jackie shouts. "Inez, can you hear me?! Inez!"

Inez pulls herself off the floor and grabs the phone, returning to the conversation.

"I'm ok." Inez says. "But my computer tower, not so much."

"Inez, what happened?" Jackie questions with concern. "I heard an explosion."

"My computer tower just exploded and before that, I got a message on my screen saying my hard drive was being erased and that my system has crashed." Inez answers.

"You didn't open that "let's hang out today' email did you?" Jackie asks.

"No I didn't." Inez answers. "After I sent my email to you, I went to my favorite site to post in the forums. I didn't even receive an email like that. There is only one cause behind why that happened to my computer. Jackie, call Matt right away while I contact Motherboard and Dr. Marbles about this."

"Got it." Jackie agrees. "Talk to you in a few."

Both girls now hang up with Inez observing the shattered computer tower in front of her on the desk.

"He's gone too far this time." Inez says, her voice turning dangerously low.

Matt's Residence

Matt can currently be found outside his house with his dog Obewan Kadoggie and is playing frisbee with the energetic lab.

"Go get it boy." Matt says to the dog, now throwing the frisbee towards the dog.

The frisbee flies towards the dog with OB getting into position to catch it. With the disk in range, the golden lab leaps into the air and catches it.

"Good boy!" Matt praises his dog as the lab brings the disk back to Matt.

Taking the disk from the dog, Matt begins scratching behind the dog's ears.

"You're such a good boy." Matt says to OB. "Yes you are, yes you are."

While Matt is playing with OB, his mother steps onto the porch with the phone in her hands.

"Matthew, there is a phone call for you." Mrs. Williams informs her son. "It's Jackie."

Hearing that, Matt halts his playing with OB.

"Mom, can't you just call me Matt?" Matt whines as he runs to the porch. "Everyone else does and you know how much I hate Matthew."

Reaching the porch, Matt takes the phone from his mother. She goes back inside.

"Hello?" Matt greets.

"Matt, King Adam followed us here!" A frantic Jackie informs Matt.

"Wait, what?" Matt asks in confusion.

"While channel surfing, I happen to come across the afternoon news." Jackie begins explaining. "While watching, a breaking news report came up that spoke of a new computer worm called the Adam worm. It's him!"

Taking in what Jackie is saying, Matt can feel his entire body stiffen up and can feel his face going pale.

"He is a mass emailing computer worm that attaches itself to your address book and then it will erase your hard drive once you open an email labeled 'let's hang out today." Jackie continues. "After that, your entire system crashes."

Registering everything Jackie has just said, the phone now slips out of Matt's frozen by shock hand and falls to the wooden porch. Matt completely is frozen solid from shock, now knowing that the enemy he thought they left behind in Digital Doom has followed them to earth, their terrain.

"Matt?"Jackie calls out. "Matt, are you still there?"

Getting that call was all he needed to hear…..


End file.
